Leukemia is a cancer of the blood cells and bone marrow, with symptoms varying between acute and chronic types. Symptoms include fever, infections, fatigue, and pain. A doctor should be consulted for an official diagnosis.
Leukemia is a cancer of the blood cells and bone marrow in which too many blood cells multiply. The symptoms of the disease vary widely, as there are different types of leukemia and, moreover, the symptoms of leukemia in children differ from the symptoms in adults. When symptoms of leukemia first appear, the patient should not immediately assume that they have cancer, as early symptoms are vague and can be assumed to be signs of a number of diseases or problems.
The two main divisions of leukemia are acute and chronic. With acute leukemia, a patient’s immature blood cells increase rapidly, crowding the bone marrow and preventing it from producing healthy blood cells. Malignant cells can be easily released into the bloodstream and other organs in the body. In chronic leukemia, the most mature white blood cells accumulate at an alarming rate. Acute leukemia is more common in children, while chronic leukemia is generally experienced by older patients.
Early symptoms of leukemia are likely to be experienced more fully by patients with acute leukemia. Symptoms of acute leukemia include fever, infections, lethargy, and lumps on the neck, armpits, or stomach. Symptoms of chronic leukemia take longer to develop and include fatigue, weight loss, sweating, fever, and pain under the ribs. Symptoms experienced by both acute and chronic patients include pain, headache, paleness, bleeding or bruising easily, loss of appetite, bone or joint pain, a general feeling of discomfort, infection, fever, decreased ability to exercise , red patches under the skin and enlarged liver, spleen and lymph nodes.
If a person is experiencing symptoms of leukemia, they should see a doctor right away for an official diagnosis. Experiencing some of these symptoms doesn’t necessarily indicate cancer, however, because they can apply to a number of illnesses; there are no specific indicators of cancer that a patient can identify without a doctor’s analysis. When a patient claims to be experiencing symptoms of leukemia, a doctor will check for swelling in the abdomen or lymph nodes, abnormal bleeding or bruising, and abnormal blood test results. Swelling occurs when large numbers of white blood cells build up in one region of the body, while bruising and bleeding are caused by not enough platelets, blood cells that clump together to counteract bleeding in the body. Blood tests measure a patient’s red and white blood cells and platelets, and too many white blood cells can be a sign of leukemia.
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